1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for constructing wells in marine environments. In another aspect, the present invention relates to systems and methods for constructing marine wells comprising use of a surface blowout preventer stack (SBOP). In even another aspect, the present invention relates to systems and methods for constructing marine wells, wherein the methods and systems comprise use of an SBOP and a drill thru Xmas (Christmas) tree. In still another aspect, the present invention relates to systems and methods for constructing marine wells, wherein the systems and methods comprise use of an SBOP, high pressure risers, a subsea shut off and disconnect device, and a drill thru Xmas tree.
2. Description of the Related Art
Exploration and production of hydrocarbons from subsea reservoirs is an expensive and time-consuming process. The drilling and production processes used to obtain hydrocarbon products from subsea wells often require allocation of expensive assets, such as floating drilling and production facilities located offshore. There are a number of problems associated with deepwater offshore drilling and production that are not found in shallow water or land operations.
Primary among these is the marine environment. Unlike the surface environment, much of the deepwater offshore drilling control equipment is located on the seabed and is not subject to direct control and monitoringxe2x80x94one simply cannot see the equipment without the use of vision equipped remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).
The mechanics of drilling in a marine environment also differ from land operations. Drilling operations utilize a weighted drilling fluid, known as mud which is pumped down the drill string and circulated back to the surface through an annulus between the drill string and the borehole wall. The drilling mud cools the drill bit as it rotates and cuts into the earth formation. The mud also provides a medium for returning the cuttings created by the drill to the earth""s surface via the annulus. The weight of the drilling mud in the annulus further operates to control pressure in the borehole and help prevent blowouts. Also, additives in the mud are designed to form a cake on the inside walls of the borehole in order to provide borehole stability and to prevent formation fluids from entering the borehole prior to production operations. It will be appreciated that during land operations, the drilling mud and cuttings may be readily returned to the surface via the borehole annulus. Such is not the case in offshore operations.
Offshore operations require location of a floating drilling unit in waters located generally above the reservoir of interest. The depth of the water may range from several hundred feet to depths greater than a mile. A drill string must travel from the surface of the drilling platform, down to the equipment located on the seabed, and then into the bore of interest prior to actually initiating cutting/drilling operations. Unlike land operations, there is no annulus between the floor of the seabed and the drilling platform at the surface. Accordingly, a drilling riser comprised of generally cylindrical elements is provided for and extends from a wellhead located at the seabed up to the drilling platform located above the surface of the water. The riser operates to protect the drill string during operations and acts as an artificial annulus.
The risers are formed from large diameter (on the order of 21 inches) metal tubular goods/joints linked together. Riser joints may be 75 feet or more in length. Buoyancy elements, also called floats, may be affixed to the external surface of the drilling riser along its length in order to establish essentially neutral buoyancy. It is possible that multiple buoyancy elements may be affixed to a single riser joint. The foam floats may be affixed about the riser by any of a number of ways as will be discussed with reference to preferred embodiments of the present invention. The buoyancy elements are often manufactured from syntactic foam or metal, and are generally 6 to 12 feet in length. The specific foam chemistry and diameter of the float are selected in accordance with the specific environmental conditions to be encountered in operations. Typically, the buoyancy elements are manufactured onshore and shipped to the drilling platform, and are usually installed on the riser prior to riser installation.
As with land drilling operations, subsea drilling operations must provide a means for shutting down the well in emergency situations. Generally, a series of blowout preventers (BOPs) referred to as a BOP stack, are used to control well flow in such instances. The BOP stack typically consists of multiple BOPs connected to each other and to the wellhead, and may include shear ram or annular BOPs. In land operations, the BOP stack is typically just below the rotary table and may be easily monitored and operated in response to a significant well event. However, in conventional subsea drilling systems the BOP stack is located on the seafloor and requires various umbilical and control lines in order to monitor conditions and operate the BOP stack. It will be appreciated that similar to the drill string and drilling riser, the umbilical and control lines must traverse the distance between the offshore platform and the subsea wellhead.
The riser, umbilicals, control lines and other subsea elements, including buoyancy elements, are subjected to ocean currents along their respective lengths, causing lateral deflection in the riser from the seabed to the surface platform. A riser and control lines may be subjected to varying and differential ocean currents along its length resulting in complex lateral deflection of the riser and can result in a number of problems. Continued deflection of a riser may result in stress points along the length of the rise and ultimately weaken the riser. Radical lateral deflection in the riser could result in excessive drill string contact with the inner wall of the riser, resulting in further weakening of the riser.
Metaocean conditions, such as winter storms, hurricanes and typhoons add yet another element of complexity to offshore drilling operations. During such events, drilling operations are typically suspended and the crew is evacuated. In the case of fixed offshore platforms or compliant tower platforms, the riser is often left in place as it is supported by a conductor system that extends from near surface to near sea bed. Floating offshore platforms present different problems in that there are no conductors to support the riser system, which depends instead, on a combination of flotation cells and topside tensioners for support. Should a metaocean condition occur, the crew is similarly evacuated, leaving the riser system subject to current stresses, as well as wind and wave stresses placed on the floating platform. To prevent damage from occurring, the riser system is often disconnected from the sea floor BOP stack and tripped, together with the control lines, to the platform surface. After the condition abates, the riser system, as well as the umbilicals and control lines are then reconnected to the sea floor BOP stack and a series of time-consuming safety tests are performed before drilling can resume.
It will be appreciated that the time required to disconnect and subsequently reconnect the riser system results in significant loss of rig time, particularly in the case of offshore platforms. Reconnection typically includes running the riser and associated umbilicals down to the seafloor BOP stack, and these are typically reconnected utilizing ROVs. The reconnection process can take many hours, followed by days of testing. Thus, there exists a need for time- and cost-effective means of disconnecting and reconnecting drilling riser systems.
Also, using conventional subsea BOP equipment, critical rig time is required to run, set and retrieve the subsea BOP and its accessories. There is correlation between the depth of the water and the time involved. There is also an associated risk of down time simply due to the complexity of the equipment. In addition to the down time associated with conventional subsea BOP equipment, conventional subsea BOPs require use of a large-diameter riser, which in turn requires more storage space on the deck of the platform prior to installation of said riser. The large-diameter risers also require high riser-tensioning capacity and/or additional buoyancy elements.
Surface BOP stack (SBOP) technology has been available since the 1960s, and overcomes some of the problems described for subsea BOPS. The SBOP is placed on or slightly below the deck of an offshore drilling platform. The riser connecting the wellhead to the surface BOP must be a high pressure riser, capable of withstanding formation pressure from the well.
Discussed thus far have been problems associated with disconnecting and reconnecting risers to seabed wells before and after metaocean events, such as storms. Another circumstance during conventional construction of subsea wells in which risers usually must be replaced is between the well drilling step and the production step of well construction.
As described above, conventional subsea risers are usually tolerant only to low pressures, and are used during the drilling step to simply guide the drill string to the sea floor. The low pressure riser may also contain the drilling mud and cuttings however, low pressure risers are inadequate for handling formation pressures of a production process.
After the target formations have been penetrated by the drill bit, production tubing is installed and one or two high pressure plugs are installed into the production tubing to secure the integrity of the well prior to removal of the subsea BOP stack. The subsea BOP stack is then retrieved to the surface wherein retrieval may have a duration of several days depending on the depth of water. Generally at this stage in the process, a production Christmas (Xmas) tree is lowered from the surface to the wellhead. A typical Xmas tree is an apparatus that provides multiple tubular elements used to control the flow of hydrocarbons to the surface and the pressures of the well annulus. A Xmas tree is also used for taking samples, and for guiding electrical cables for pumps or other devices. The installation of the Xmas tree requires disconnection of the drilling riser from the wellhead in order to attach the well head to the Xmas tree so that the subsequent production process may begin.
Clearly, the use of conventional low pressure drilling risers and subsea BOP stacks requires substantial amounts of time to switch between drilling equipment and production equipment. A significant amount of storage space and weight bearing capacity on the floating platform is also required in order to store the low pressure drilling risers and the production risers, the typically large and heavy subsea BOP stacks, and the greater quantities of drilling mud needed to fill the larger diameter low pressure drilling risers. As wells are being drilled in deeper waters, greater lengths of risers and greater quantities of mud must be used and stored on a floating platform, such as a Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU). The solution has been to build larger MODUs which are more expensive to build and to hire.
The conventional use of surface BOP stacks from a floating drilling unit also requires that the drilling riser be disconnected after a well has been completed in order to connect a production Xmas tree between the high pressure riser and the wellhead in order for prepare for the production process.
In spite of the above advancements in the art, time efficient systems and methods for drilling and completion of wells in marine environments have not been described.
Thus, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for time efficient drilling and completion of wells in marine environments, which do not suffer from the disadvantages of the prior art systems and methods.
There is another need for systems and methods that will allow a subsea well to be drilled and completed without the necessity of disconnecting the high pressure riser and inserting a production Xmas tree between the riser and the wellhead prior to production.
There is even another need for systems and methods that enable deepwater drilling with MODUs that provide smaller storage space and lighter load-bearing limits than are commonly required with conventional drilling systems and methods.
These and other needs in the art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon review of this specification, including its drawings and claims.
It is an object of the present invention to provide systems and methods for drilling and completion of wells in marine environments in a time efficient manner, wherein the systems and methods do not suffer from the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for systems and methods for producing a subsea well, wherein the systems and methods do not require disconnecting the high pressure riser and inserting an production Xmas tree between the riser and the wellhead before production can begin.
It is even another object of the present invention to provide for systems and methods for deepwater drilling with mobile offshore drilling units (MODU) that provide smaller storage areas and lighter load-bearing limits than are commonly required with conventional drilling systems and methods.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon review of this specification, including its drawings and claims.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a system for drilling and producing from subsea wells wherein the systems includes a surface blowout preventer (BOP) stack and a drill-thru Xmas tree. Generally, the BOP stack is maintained and controlled at a position above sea level, and is connected to the drill-thru Xmas tree.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for drilling a subsea well, wherein the method includes controlling well blowout with a well blowout preventer stack positioned above sea level. The method also includes drilling a well using a riser that functions for drilling the well, or carrying product from the well, or both. The method further includes drilling the well using a drill-thru Xmas tree, wherein the tree is utilized in both drilling and production processes.